State mulls 700 mph hyperloop project from Tampa to South Florida

A conceptual image shows Hyperloop passenger pods traveling through metal vacuum tubes.

Based on the Elon Musk concept, Florida is looking at a company developing a 700 mph hyperloop that could run from Tampa to South Florida, according to a report in the Fort Myers News-Press.

The form of high-speed transportation that involves a pod that moves from place to place by use of pressure systems would be developed by California-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, the News-Press reported.

In 2017, another company, Hyperloop One, had listed an Orlando-to-Miami route as a finalist for its proposed efforts. Companies have been running with Musk’s open-source concept, which was a combined effort from SpaceX and Tesla originally put forth in 2012. Musk has said the concept could work well in his future plans for Mars colonization.

The Hyperloop TT concept would include stops in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Bradenton, Sarasota, Venice, Fort Myers, Naples, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, the News-Press reported.

The state Legislature approved $1 million for the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority to look into the concept with studies through 2022 as part of an effort to study alternative forms of transportation, the newspaper reported.

Hyperloop TT has a research and development site in France that has assembled a working tube system to prove out the technology. It has other projects in the works in Germany and Abu Dhabi, and is targeting a potential first U.S. project to run from Chicago to Cleveland to Pittsburgh, having signed an agreement with the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency to study a Great Lakes Hyperloop corridor, according to its website.